Indiana may soon join 19 other states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia by lowering the legal drunken driving threshold to 0.08.

The House approved the legislation 89-6 after it was proposed and failed to pass in 10 of the last 11 years.

Did it pass this year because it protects motorists from drunks behind the wheel? Did it pass because 0.08 percent blood alcohol content makes a person dangerous to fellow motorists?

Perhaps.

But the fact that Congress passed legislation last year to withhold highway money from states that don't lower their drunk driving threshold to 0.08 by 2004 might have played a large part in the sudden shift in attitude.

Money has a funny way of affecting change.

The fact is that the 0.08 legislation is a poor compromise. Yes, drunk driving is bad. Yes, the 0.08 will help ensure more arrests and prevent more fatalities.

If you want to make a strong statement about preventing anyone who might be impaired by alcohol from driving on the road, drop the threshold more than the two hundredths of a percent. If you don't want to attack social drinkers, then leave the standard basically the same.

The bill that passed in the Indiana House of Representatives includes provisions that would allow people charged with BAC levels of 0.08 percent and 0.09 percent to have their charges dismissed provided they don't have prior convictions and haven't injured anyone or damaged any property. Their license would still be suspended for 30 days and they would have to undergo an alcohol treatment program.

This is a mere slap on the wrist, so obviously the House doesn't think the newly restricted are much of a threat. If they did, the legislation would have passed sooner and without financial pressure from the federal level.

Drunken driving is a deadly problem. It needs strong answers, not petty compromises.

n Editorial Board: Keith Thomas, Tom McHenry, Melissa Davis and Laura Pelner.